1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to advertising and emergency signs. More particularly, it relates to signs that can be employed for conventional advertising; and can be converted electrically, remotely and silently into a device for summoning aid, for preventing successful completion of a robbery, or the like, without endangering lives.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art has seen a wide variety of different types of signs and a wide variety of different types of aid summoning and anti-robbery devices. Ordinarily, the two have not been combined. The aid summoning and anti-robbery devices have been heretofore divided into two primary categories. These categories are the direct aid summoning and the indirect aid summoning devices. The indirect aid summoning devices usually take the form of burglar alarms and the like that are activated to cause an audio alarm; such as, a siren, or loud bells; that seeks aid from a passerby, either directly or by calling the police. These sound producing alarms have almost always caused anger in the robber. This anger was frequently vented on the clerks or other persons in the store. Many times this has resulted in their being killed before the robber would flee. If a passerby attempted to intervene directly, there was danger to the passerby's life.
The direct aid summoning devices have been inordinately expensive, since they required an interconnection into a police station or the like. Consequently, they have been economically infeasible for the smaller business establishments, such as small retail stores.
From the foregoing it can be seen that the prior art has failed to produce a combination sign and aid summoning or anti-robbery device that could be employed silently without danger to lives of innocent personnel; yet was economical enough to be affordable by the smaller business establishments.